Jerry Jones Expected To Contest Paying Legal Fees Incurred By NFL Owners From His Prior Lawsuit

Update:

Judy Battista reports that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is expected to contest paying legal fees incurred by league owners.

If Jones proceeds with this course of action, it would go to a hearing before commissioner Roger Goodell.

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Dan Graziano of ESPN reports that the reported fine of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones by the commissioner’s office is actually just a reimbursement of legal fees in excess of $2 million.

While the prior report said that Roger Goodell was going to fine Jones for attempting to derail negotiations and for his defense of Ezekiel Elliott, Graziano says that this isn’t so much of “Goodell fining Jerry” as it is NFL owners executing a rule a long-standing rule that if an owner participates in bringing litigation against other owners, he must reimburse them for the legal fees.

Graziano adds that this action was generated by his fellow owners, not Goodell and has been approved by the league’s finance committee.

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Ken Belson of the New York Times reports that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell plans to fine Cowboys owner Jerry Jones millions of dollars for his attempt to derail negotiations regarding Goodell’s new contract and for his outspoken defense of Ezekiel Elliott, who was suspended six games last year.

According to the report, Goodell has the support of “many” NFL owners to take this course of action against Jones.

Belson says that the punishment for Jones is expected to be handed down in the coming weeks with Goodell citing conduct detrimental to the league.

Goodell was reportedly urged by several owners to take action against Jones, even though he was reluctant to be seen as trying to get retribution for Jones openly working to undermine contract talks for his extension.

Belson says that these owners felt Jones had crossed an unspoken boundary by threatening his colleagues.

Last year, Jones went as far as hiring lawyer David Boies to sue the six owners on the league’s compensation committee negotiating Goodell’s contract. Beyond that, Jones lobbied for Elliott to not be suspended and attempted to influence league officials deciding his case.

The order is expected to require Jones to pay the legal fees that the committee incurred defending itself on top of any legal expenses the NFL had to pay for defending its decision to suspend Elliott.